I don’t think I want to be republican anymore…

I will never, ever be a democrat either. Seems to me, both parties are out of touch with me, freaked out about losing their power structure to a bunch of decent grandmas and grandpas, moms & dads, you know the astro turf gang of haters and racists that I more than identify with. Would you like some tea?

I got FB defriended by both the Hamilton County Republican party fan page and their leader, Alex Triantafilou. Just for speaking my mind on their establishment elite, GOP threads. Actually, I was just trying to warn against using the evil political tool box of negative advertising.

I hate negative advertising, passionately..

It’s a pity, I wanted to help them with their story telling, guide them to the power of positive imaging, where you talk about what’s great about who we are and how we can make our little patch of grass always green even during the harsh summer recession.

John Kasich fell for the trap of Strickland’s lies, hell, Drehaus calls himself a fiscal conservative and voted for the porkulas, Obamacare and the financial bailout and reform, you’ve got to be kidding me. Chabot distorts Drehaus, on and on-blah blah blah. Enough already, i’ve had enough. Don’t fucking tell me who I can or can’t trust because I trust neither right now.

Things are changing, the tea party, especially the Cincinnati Tea party has really made a difference and it is a force to be reconded with. Mike Wilson is an excellent candidate, he’s not in my district, I’d vote for him twice if I could. We need to clone him or find people just like him (they are out there in the Tea Party, but they are shy.)

I want to vote for the candidate who is honest, not over promising, someone who offers a common sense approach, conservative, conservative and conservative. If the republican not RINO, fits the bill, they have my vote. Conservative Democrat(oxymoron), maybe.  Progressive, no way in hell.

I truly believe that our governments are out of control and have to be neutered or spayed. Give the power of my life back to me.

That goes for  City, County, State and Federal. There needs to be someone who stands up to the Public service unions and SEIU and tells them that they sold their membership a lie…the American people are not going to pay for a 80% pension for a 55 year-old for the rest of their life or pick up 100% of their healthcare. Not happening. I want to see less government, less taxes, a lot less spending, less nannyism and idiotic unfunded mandates and regulation.

I will no longer put party over principal. When asked my party affiliation, I’m a conservative, when asked my race, I say American.

On the eve of the 9 year anniversary of the heinous attack on my country by Islamic terriosts, I feel like we have learned nothing about these crazy people. They hate our guts and the only way to deal with them is to kill them.

I remember the day vividly, I was at work at FSD, a Cincinnati ad agency on 6th & Main, right across from the Federal Building. Donna, the production manager, said that the World Trade Center was burning and everybody was watching the TV in conference room. We all put down our mouses and filed in to the horror of the images on TV. People were jumping to their death by then, the commentators were confused. Was it an accident or not.

I remember thinking, how could it be.

Then the other plane slammed into the other tower. We all gasped. Shocked that we just witnessed mass murder. I know that I could not take my eyes off the TV. I don’t recall a lot of discussion, just shock. Then fear.

Thank GOD Linda was not flying that day. I called her and she told me about the skies being cleared and that more jets were missing. We had good friends flying back from Europe. They got stuck in Canada or Iceland.

When the first tower collapsed, I had had enough. No more creativity for that day. I had a strong desire to gather my wife and kids and hunker down in my safe den in Mt. Lookout. I came home to find noone, just an empty house with a cat that doesn’t particular like me. Ellie and Linda had gone to pick up Cary at Kilgour School and it kind of freaked me out. I sat in my living room on a comfy lazyboy watching the carnage and the second tower crashing down, it was gut wrenching(a word my facebook friend described today).

I watched Rudy’s documentary just the other day on cable, it all came rushing back, the gut wenching feeling, the pride in the New York people and their courageous mayor. I’m sure the Nat Geo special will be on tomorrow, I will watch as they again debunk the conspiracy therories of an inside job(stupid truthers)

Back to my original thought, what was this all for, why and how can people hate us so? On the days after 911, the country came together to morn like never before. I’ll never forget how 911 made me feel but I will also never forget how 912 and the day after made me proud to be American.

For my initial entry, I want to talk a little about stories.

Once upon a time, in a place not far away, this ad geek decided that doing my job the way everyone else was doing their job, was clearly not an effective way to be different or persuasive.

The sisyphus-like process of writing a headline, finding a photo that fit, making the logo small and hard to find, and then emailing it off to a client so they could tear it apart and resuture all the little pieces back together again with their own, hideous additions, wasn’t satisfying as a creative and didn’t do a good product justice.

Instead of watching suits and committees bastardize beauty, I decided it was time to bring back the era of crafting a telling and intriguing story for a product. It’s time to once again tell a simple story that enlightens the consumer about a product. End result…getting them to happily swipe their debit card to make a purchase they feel they absolutely need.

In honor of this approach to advertising, I decided my new blog is going to consist of war stories from my 30-year career in advertising. History lessons from my childhood in North Bend and Cleves, Ohio. And opinion stories about politics (oh do I have opinions).

So come back, get in the talk…as Pete Rose said in the spot he did for Gold Star, “you can’t get in on the talk or even form an opinion if you haven’t tried Gold Star,” and “Gold Star Chili…dem dawgs are good.”

Enjoy.